You Started It
A Fruits Basket fan fiction by Sachimi
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket
Say it…
This takes place just after Shigure slept with Ren to get back at Akito.
***I'm not sure if I want to continue this story or not! I have a few other Shigure stories that can tie into this… or at least relate! Should I keep it going? Opinions? Please review!
"Say it."
Her voice ripped through the air. It was… chaotic, poisonous… addicting.
He smiled.
Someone once told him you always want what you can't have. He knew that well. He planned on making her know too.
The man lounged against the open door frame to the patio, listening to the night's rain softly beat against the already worn wood. Streams of moonlight escaped from between the clouds cast an eerie glow over the fuming girl's slight frame stationed in the center of the darkened room. Her fists were clenched. He knew what he had done to her.
She wasn't going to win.
"Not a chance." Shigure smirked, tucking his hands in the pockets of his pants and glancing upwards at the sky.
The girl scowled and approached him "Say it right now!" she demanded
"I don't think so, Akito-san" He answered tauntingly, looking back at her.
Akito clenched her teeth, grabbing at his shirt. "That wasn't a request, Shigure… Say it right now, or I won't forgive you." She threatened, pulling herself up to his level violently.
The man smiled at her bitterly. Cupping his hands over hers he spoke very slowly as if explaining a lesson to a child, drawing out each word so that it was almost painful "Who says I'm looking to be forgiven, my dear?" he lowered her claws from his shirt carefully and moved past her into the room.
Akito stood frozen in the door frame staring into the garden, trying to make sense of what he just said to her "Wh-what? What does that mean?" She began, trembling. "What are you saying? You can't say that!"
"Why not?" Shigure asked curiously, sitting down on a ledge.
"Because I said so!" Akito shouted, whipping around. Shigure tipped his head to the side, watching her through narrowed eyes "Stop acting this way!" She hurried toward him wildly, desperately. "Just say it!" it was vicious demand "Say it once so I know!" She threw out her arms to grab at him, to force him to look at her.
He caught her hands in his, their fingers intertwined. He stared up at the girl with short dark hair.
Ah… pure poetry… a passion simply… deadly.
She trembled, her glare darkening hatefully as her nails dug into his skin, urging him to speak. When he didn't obey, Akito put her knee on his lap and raised herself above the man, looking down into blank eyes that spoke nothing to her. That showed no emotion and gave no clue. She could hardly take it.
"Say it!"
He smirked "Say what exactly, Akito-san?" Shigure purred his face only an inch from hers. Her eyes were wild.
Her lip curled up in a snarl. She couldn't stand the way he tested her. Her hands shook.
"Say… say that y-you love me…" She hissed through clenched teeth, watching him through dark hair that fell into her eyes.
He stared up into her dark eyes and smiled after a long and painful moment silent moment. "My dearest, sweetest, Akito-san…" Shigure began kindly as he slowly rose from the ledge so as not to push Akito to the ground. "… Why would I say a thing like that?" his voice had a humorous tone, as if Akito were imagining things and he gently correcting her.
Akito blinked, confused as Shigure straightened up to his full height, looking down at her. "Bu-but-" She stammered, blinking away tears from widened eyes.
"Hmm?" Shigure tipped his head to the side, watching her as her expression changed from hurt to sad to angry to vicious. His face was dark in the shadowy room and his smile was strange and unnerving. "What is it, Akito-san?" He asked releasing one of her hands to stroke her hair.
She slapped his hand away and pulled back from his grip, stumbling backward several step into the moonlight spilling into the room, snarling. "No! Say you love me, Shigure! You have to! You love me, so just say it!" she shouted.
The dark haired man watched Akito from the shadows. His eyes were distant, as if her words couldn't reach him.
"Who says I do?" He challenged causally, lowering his hand.
Akito stiffened, faltering slightly "Well, of course you do." She said, her brows knit together"You all do. You have to. Everyone does." She answered, matter-of-factly.
"Ahhh…" Shigure smiled and looked away briefly, rubbing the back of his neck "really? If that's how it is then I love you I guess…" He said with under tone that made Akito flinch, as if the rules didn't apply to him "Just the way everyone else does."
She shook her head slowly, "Don't say it like that." Akito muttered.
The man sighed deeply and walked forward into the moonlight toward her "You're hard to please." He commented as he passed her. Shigure stopped at the threshold to the patio, lingering in the doorway, eyes trained on the familiar garden.
"Why did you do it?" Akito asked in a pained whisper. She had her back to him. She couldn't look there anymore.
Why couldn't she make him say the words that would make everything right once more? So she could forgive his sins?
The words that would put her back in control.
Shigure inclined his head. "What?"
"Why did you do it, Shigure?" She repeated on the heel of his question, just short of yelling. Her voice shook. "Why… Why would you do that to me?!" She demanded
Shigure smiled slightly and looked back out toward the garden. There were so many memories here…
"Say something!" Akito pressed angrily "Why did you do it?"
"I had my reasons." He replied.
Akito gave a hateful laugh. "Do you love her?" She demanded.
Shigure scoffed, running his hand through his hair "No."
Akito was silent for a moment "Then why?"
"I already told you, I had my reasons." He answered easily.
She glared at him "You said you loved me once!" She shouted, spinning around "You said so! You said it then, and you'll say it now! So say it, Goddamn it!"
Shigure's eyes narrowed, starring off into the garden as the rain decreased, his vision focused on a particular plant. "I'm glad that bush is dead." He said offhandedly, as if he hadn't heard Akito speak at all.
The girl's breath caught in her throat "What?" she whispered. She approached him slowly, peering out from behind him to a wilted bush a yard or two from the edge of the patio.
Shigure shifted slightly to give her some room, putting his hand up above his head to grasp onto the top of the door frame causally. He smiled slightly and pointed at it "Right there. See? That bush."
Akito stared at the brittle collection of sticks. "… Why would you say that?"
Shigure shrugged "I never liked it much. It was so deceptive, don't you agree?" He smiled down at her when she glanced up at him. "It used to be so kind. It was so sweet, blooming with beautiful perfect flowers. It takes you in with its wonder. That's how it gets you, with its color and allure… Its lovely isn't it? It was lovely wasn't it. But something so misleading… isn't that just painful? Wouldn't you say so?"
His eyes narrowed darkly as he moved toward her slightly, lowering his arm. The girl shifted backward. He smiled again, but his eyes held no humor. "Beauty that belongs to you… only you…? That hilarious isn't it. It's so misleading. It's not so pretty when it shares it's loveliness with someone else. And when you return to it, thinking you'll find those pretty flowers, all you see is a dying plant that was once so lovely. It's so deceptive because, well, it will never stay the same." He chuckled.
"You have to be one of the lucky ones and catch it at the right time, you can never have perfect for you all the time since you don't know when it wants you or wants someone else or even feels like being good that day." He sighed. "I for one… am happy I don't have to wait around for such a temperamental plant anymore, wouldn't you agree?"
"It's not dead. It's going to bloom again in spring." Akito protested.
Shigure smiled "Should I risk it? It hasn't been kind before. Maybe it's better off dead. Maybe we should just leave it and forget about it." He shrugged.
Akito's eyes were wide "But that bush… and those flowers… you said…-"
His eyes never left hers but his smile changed from calm to taunting. "What?"
Her mind was on a memory from her childhood, on the very same patio they stood on this day. The morning light shone over the flowers in bloom, Shigure moving toward her handing her a blossom with the kind words "I love you."
The words she longed to hear again.
Today in the dark, he looked so much different. And she was desperate to hear those words once more. Her teeth clenched and she glared at him "Say-!"
Shigure grabbed Akito, gripping her shoulders tightly. "You say it." He retorted.
Akito gasped, and pressed her hands against his chest "Wha- Let me-!"
"You say it then, if you want to hear it so badly." Shigure continued.
Akito stared at him, trying to pull away "Let me go." She ordered.
"Say it just once, so I know." His words mimicked hers, but his tone was challenging. The undertone that made her flinch earlier had returned. It seemed to mock her.
Akito scowled "I don't have to say it. I told you too. You have too."
"That doesn't seem fair now does it?" He mused, loosening his grip on her so she could break free. Akito pulled away and stormed into the room, rubbing her shoulders. "I have to say it, but you don't?"
"You have to do what I say!" She shouted over her shoulder at him.
Shigure smiled a little as he tipped his head to the side and looked out the door. "Say it." He said again.
Akito looked back at him and opened her mouth to protest.
"Say it or I won't forgive you." Shigure continued before she could speak.
Akito froze. A silence passed through the room between them for a long moment. Shigure listened to the sound of the lightly drizzling rain and waited for his words to take effect. Then, finally, Akito spoke "What?" she spat.
She turned to look at him "Won't forgive me?" Shigure's profile was dark against the glow of the moonlight. "What right do you have? To forgive me or not? To tell me to do something. You can't look down on me! You don't have that right!" Her words were a poison as she stalked towards him, a smirk spreading on his face. He turned to watch her.
Once she was close enough he took her chin in his hand and looked over her face. "Then … you won't say it?" He tipped Akito's face up towards his and stroked the side of her cheek softly with his hand "You won't tell me that you love me?" He asked in a hushed voice as he brought himself closer to her.
Akito stared at him through narrowed eyes "No." she hissed. A voice like venom. Toxic.
Shigure smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes "I see…" He whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her shiver. "Then… neither will I." Akito inhaled sharply. "And I will not forgive you."
The girl's heart ached as he pulled away and turned toward the door hidden in the shadow. The pain he had seen in her eyes for that brief moment prove to him that this was not over… and that she loved.
He smiled bitterly.
Funny how the pain he felt meat the same thing.
"Y-you're like that bush!" Akito screamed.
Shigure glanced over at her. She wouldn't approach him anymore. "You're nice and say pretty things and then you change! Then you-!" She was interrupted by his chuckling.
"Me? No, my dear, I'm not what that metaphor was describing. I'm something else entirely. Maybe you shouldn't jump to such conclusions." he smiled.
Akito glared "… Me then? You… mean…?"
"If the shoe fits…" He winked.
"After everything you've done to me-"She growled. "Get out. I don't want to see you in this place anymore. You… are no longer allowed to live here." She commanded, wiping at her tear brimmed eyes.
Shigure turned back to her, watching her sentence his crime in her rage.
"After everything you've done… to me! You don't deserve to live here!" She shouted "Get out! Pack your things and be gone by tomorrow evening!"
Shigure stared at the girl fuming in silence. She watched him; breathing heavily, prepared to hear an apology, ready for him to give in or even resist his punishment.
The man looked toward the ceiling briefly, scratching the back of his neck and he sighed deeply.
And turning to the door to pull it open, leaving the girl to stand alone in the glow of the moonlight, the man stepped through the darkened threshold with a smirk on his lips as he spoke his words in a voice that could only be toxic, the way it drove her mad "To hell, my Love, with you."
Thank you for reading!Once again, please help me decide whether or not to continue with the story. I have some Shii-Chan fics that may go well with this! But still review either way! I'd love to hear what you have to say! Thank you!
Please Review!
Love,
Sachi-chan!